


The Rooks of Brocket Hall

by dechagny



Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: Alternate History, Angst, Canon Era, Canon Rewrite, F/M, First Kiss, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 01:43:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8081764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dechagny/pseuds/dechagny
Summary: Victoria has arrived incognito at Brocket Hall with something to say to Lord Melbourne. How will he respond and will it be what Victoria was hoping for?





	

The sun shone low over Brocket Hall, illuminating the gardens and greenhouse with a soft, orange glow that slowly grew into blush where the black shadows and feathers of the rooks were solid and apparent. They flew through the clouds without a care, grouped together as they travelled through the early twilight sky. Lord Melbourne watched them peacefully from the back of the house. They turned and swooped towards the gardens, landing in a tree a few feet away from where Melbourne sat. There was a gentle breeze that made the leaves rustle around him and he would occasionally turn his face toward the direction of the wind to cool his skin after his shoulders, neck and chin had slumped into his heavy green winter coat. He took deep breaths of the fresh air and exhaled again steadily, letting the calm of the evening wash over him and feeling the stresses of Parliament leave his body with every prolonged breath.

His solitude was not destined to last long however, as he heard dainty footsteps behind him in the grass and dead leaves that no one had yet cleared away. He rose to his feet and turned, smiling when he saw the short, young woman walking towards him with the autumn leaves falling around her shoulders. Her dress was crisp and purple, reflecting the late afternoon sunshine that seemed to hit her and surround her with soft, glowing light. A man who was not so cynical and wise may have believed that the woman was an angel, some strangely beautiful gift from Heaven. Her slender arms lifted to remove the black veil attached to her bonnet to reveal her face. Lord Melbourne's smile grew as the wind blew the loose strands of hair across her face and seeing those light pink cheeks that were cold from her brisk walk across the garden. She smiled back at him, her small, gloved hands folded together demurely and her bright blue eyes sparkled with youthful energy.

“Oh, it is you, Ma'am,” Melbourne said, still smiling. “I couldn't tell.” His voice held a mild sarcastic tone but he enjoyed being able to joke and tease when many others were so stiff and serious around her. Even though Victoria was Queen, she was still a young woman with a sense of humour and a need for friendship beyond the company she kept in her household at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen kept her distance by approximately a metre, wringing her hands together nervously and shuffling on her feet, but still smiled, grateful for Melbourne's dry humour. “The butler said you would be here.”

Melbourne nodded, looking up at the sky, watching the birds fly overhead. Victoria looked up too.

“I come here for the rooks,” he explained to her. “They are sociable animals. A gathering like this is called a Parliament,” he says, amused by the irony. “Altogether more civilised than their human equivalent.” He looked back at Victoria and they caught one another's gaze, both of them smiling and trying their best not to laugh.

Victoria looked up once more at the birds, considering Melbourne's joke. She found herself laughing often at Melbourne's jokes and wit, as it was a welcome change from her family, household and parliament's rather more serious nature. With Lord Melbourne, she did not always feel as though she were Queen. Even though Victoria was young, she was not the inexperienced and rash girl that had previously ascended to the throne that she believed most other people treated her as. Lord Melbourne had always been different. He guided her and he helped her as her Prime Minister, he nurtured her and talked to her as her friend. He had seen her be afraid and vulnerable, and he had seen her be courageous and guarded. A balance that many could not achieve and Melbourne loved and treasured each aspect of her impressionable youth that the young Queen would show to him.

Victoria licked her bottom lip, noticing her mouth had gone dry from nerves. “I'm sorry to disturb you, Lord M...but I had to talk to you.” Her pause in the sentence seemed like a lifetime for the both of them, though it could not have been more than a second or two. She took a few nervous steps closer, not tearing her eyes away from Melbourne.

“Brocket Hall is honoured, Ma'am,” Melbourne said, bowing his head briefly, silently inviting her to talk about whatever was on her mind.

“I have come here incognito, of course,” she said tentatively, hinting that she was totally alone and that they would not be disturbed. A hint that this conversation was private and something only for Lord Melbourne's ears to hear.

“Of course,” Melbourne repeated, grinning. “Though your presence can't entirely be disguised.” He took a few steps forward of his own.

Victoria looked up at Melbourne with eyes full of wonder and her lips quivered with those nerves that she somehow could not shake, though Melbourne's far stronger yet gentle eyes seemed to make her feel more sure of herself, more at ease. They were warm and kind, a reflection of his own candid soul, though she was unaware that it was only candid to her. She watched as Melbourne's smile faded with worry the longer she kept quiet, trying to build up the courage to speak. Eventually, she managed to make words come out of her mouth.

“Yesterday I realised something.”

“Yes, Ma'am?” Melbourne took another step, closing the gap between them.

“I think perhaps now, I am speaking as a woman, not as a Queen,” she said, half-warning him of what was to come next and Melbourne cocked his head, listening intently and sensing the seriousness of her sudden visit to Brocket Hall. “At the beginning, I thought you were the father I never had. But now, I feel, I _know_ ,” she said the word with great force and belief, holding back the tears of her own pure emotion. Victoria had never opened up her emotions to another man quite like this before, “that are you the only companion I could ever desire.”

Lord Melbourne took a few long moments to let Victoria's words sink into his old, worn heart. Her voice rattled his heart so much that he could feel it banging against his ribs. His smile was somewhat sad because though he had longed to hear Victoria tenderly speak words of love to him for quite some time, Melbourne was a man of noble intentions and he knew his place with the Queen, and it could never be beside her as her husband. With a heavy feeling in his chest, Melbourne gingerly took the Queen's hand and popped the button on her glove, revealing the soft skin of her hand. He touched it as though Victoria were made of the finest and most precious china in England. To Melbourne, she would always be the most precious woman in England.

“Did you know that rooks mate for life?” Melbourne's words were tainted with regret from the moment they tumbled from his lips. “Every year, they build their nests together, renew all those little civilities that make marriage sparkle. I think we could learn much from them.” He was close to tears himself as he held the hand of the woman he loved now and remembered the woman he had loved before. “If I had just spent more time watching the rooks, my wife would have felt more attended to.”

“She should never have left you,” Victoria breathed, sensing his emotions like electricity through her hand and eyes. “I would never do such a thing.” A tinge of bitterness waved through the young Queen for Melbourne's ex-wife. Melbourne was the kindest, most gentle and wise man she had known. How could any woman leave him for another when he was the most perfect gentleman and husband that Victoria, the Queen of England, could ever imagine?

“No,” Melbourne said fondly, his eyes darting across Victoria's sincere and hopeful face. He could see that Victoria meant all that she had said, but it was nothing that either of them could ever act upon and he was resigned to this fact. The wind kept blowing Victoria's hair across her eyes, but they never left Melbourne's face – it was like she didn't even realise that her hair was trying to become unbound by itself. Here, in this moment, Melbourne thought that she looked like an ordinary woman. An ordinary woman professing her ordinary love to an ordinary man. Any ordinary man would take this moment to kiss her. No sooner had he had thought this, Victoria, impatient and overcome by her strong heart and head that knew what it wanted, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him herself. It was soft and hesitant and only lasted a brief second as Victoria dropped back to her feet after Melbourne did nothing at all.

He did not kiss back, he did not move a hand, and his breath caught in his chest and made it still. It were as though he had been paralysed by shock. Victoria shook her head and smiled ruefully at the ground. “Forgive me,” she said in a small voice, squeezing his hand in hers. “I should not have taken advantage of you like that. It was wholly inappropriate as your Queen.”

Melbourne's smile somewhat returned to him as the shock dispersed from his body and he couldn't help but adore Victoria's suddenly shy, queenly charm. He could feel Victoria's hand begin to slip out of his own but before he realised he was doing it, he held her tighter in a subconscious attempt to keep her close. Their eyes met again and Victoria seemed sad but expectant as she looked at him. Melbourne could see the admiration and love in her and his heart could not resist such an extraordinary young woman and his own feelings for much longer.

“But perhaps,” Melbourne began cautiously, “since you were speaking as a woman and not a Queen, it was wholly appropriate.” His smile grew as Victoria began to smile too. Their smiles were evident in their eyes as well, their affections for one another becoming obvious and the tension between them was unbearable for them both. If Melbourne did not kiss her again now then he would live to regret it – as this was his final chance to leave his nobility behind for just a second and grab what would make his heart most happy, even though it would not last beyond that evening at Brocket Hall, underneath the tree the rooks were perched on. This time, it were the rooks that were watching Melbourne.

Like magnets the pair were drawn to one another, pressing their lips firmly together and closing their eyes. This time Melbourne was able to notice how soft and supple Victoria's lips were and how kissing her like this felt like coming home. Kissing Victoria seemed awfully familiar and comfortable, and he knew now that he would never be happier than he was when he was with her because she filled his cynical soul and mind with hope, joy and love. He realised that he was not a rook, no matter how much he tried to tell himself, and others, that he mated for life, and he knew now that he could have two people he loved with all his withered, hardened heart. He lifted a hand to touch Victoria's cheek with his fingertips and he felt it grow warm with a blush.

Victoria felt her own heart flutter in her chest from his touch, which was light and deliberate like a feather. This was her first love and one that she could only have dreamed of. Light kisses, soft touches, fond smiles and the occasional childish laughter with the promise of something far more sensual that would only happen beneath the sheets of a marital bed and words that could only be whispered in the dark by candlelight. For both Victoria and Melbourne, they could see the future in this kiss, though, tragically, they could not take the future they dreamed of. A simple wedding and marriage, a home in the countryside where they could cultivate flowers and watch the rooks at sunset together, perhaps children running across the grass and staining their clothes, living a happy and ordinary life together as man and wife rather than Queen and Lord. All of this appeared to them in one kiss and melted away again just as swiftly. For now, whilst they were alone together, Victoria put her arms around Melbourne and held him tightly, trying to keep hold of him in this fantasy for as long as she dared.

They soon parted lips and stared at one another, smiling with pleasant disbelief, before Victoria leaned against Melbourne in a relieved and loving embrace as both felt the bittersweet reality of their impossible love being reciprocated. Melbourne put his arms around her, holding her just as tightly as she had held him. Victoria could hear Melbourne's heart through his chest and she carefully reached a hand up to feel her own heartbeat. Their two hearts beat together as though they were one. They knew what was to happen next, but neither of them moved or said a word, desperately trying to keep hold of this precious moment of intimate togetherness before it was gone forever, and Victoria and all others continued their hunt for a suitable husband for the Queen.

The sun had set behind Brocket Hall and sunk the gardens into an early autumn shadow. Neither of them noticed the rooks take flight from the trees and disappear into the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> This ship has taken over my life and I so needed them to kiss during this scene when I was watching it, so I re-wrote it so they did! I hope you enjoyed this quick ficlet!


End file.
